<p>For private student loans in the student’s name, that you cosign, there are many lenders, if you decide to go that route. Finaid has one list of lenders:
[FinAid</a> | Loans | Private Student Loans](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Private Student Loans - Finaid)
College financial aid offices often have a list, and local banks/credit unions may offer loans.</p>
<p>Some lenders offer fixed rate loans (usually in the Parent PLUS range, so I don’t see the advantage), but most will be variable rate, quoted as a range, and pegged to the Prime Rate or LIBOR. That’s where you’ve probable heard the 3.5%, because they are advertised as “as low as 3.5%” etc. That means little.</p>
<p>The lender will not tell you YOUR rate until after you complete the full application (very time consuming), and how they determine the rate they offer is mysterious. By law, they are now supposed to tell you, but they may not. Theoretically your rate should bear some relation to your credit score and/or the student’s credit score–i.e. an excellent credit score(s) should get you a quote at the bottom of the range. But I didn’t find that to necessarily be the case. Different lenders will probably quote you different rates, so try another if you don’t like the quote from the first. In my experience, there wasn’t a lot of rhyme or reason to it, and Sallie Mae quoted us the worst rate. If anyone’s ever gotten that magical 2.25% rate from Sallie Mae I’d love to know how.</p>
<p>Lenders will often give a lower rate if you pay interest during school, have the payments automatically withdrawn from an account, or if you have another account or loan with them. Some give graduation discounts/small bonuses; some will release the cosigner after a certain period of on-time payments (e.g. 24 months)</p>
<p>Search private student loans in CC for mentions of some specific lenders people have liked; we went with Citizens.</p>